Introduction: Mr. Hustle

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hustlers, today's episode is a little different because for the first time I am sitting down with the man behind Mr. Hustle. You've seen the real estate deals, the businesses, the content, and the hustle. But today we are going all the way back to where it started. We're talking about how Mike grew up, where his hustle came from, his time in the military, how he found real estate and built his business, and eventually how Mr. Hustle became the brand and online real estate authority that you all know today. But what most people see online is only a small piece of the story. There were failures, sacrifices, lessons learned along the way, and years of work behind the scenes before anybody knew the name Mr. Hustle. We're going to talk about the moments that shaped him, the decisions that changed his life, and what continues to drive him today, even after all the success he has accomplished. If you've ever wondered who Mr. Hustle really is when the cameras are off, this is that conversation. On today's episode, Mr. Hustle. Hustlers, welcome to another episode of the Turn Up to Hustle

Growing Up in San Antonio

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Podcast, where real estate investors and entrepreneurs share their stories, their strategies, and mindset behind their hustle. I am your host today, Skyler Moon, and we have an extremely special guest, one you guys have been waiting for forever. It is time to turn up the hustle with our friend Mr. Hustle. Surprise, it's me. So obviously, guys, we're doing things a little bit different today. Uh we are going back, this is an episode we've had requests from a lot of you guys, and so we wanted to give you guys what you wanted. We want the story behind Mr. Hustle, how we started, how we got into real estate, and how he became the investor and the man he is today. And so, with all that said, welcome to your own show, sir.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Well, I appreciate that, man. It's a little uh little different being on this side of the table, but cool, man. I dig it.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

So, well, as always, as always, for those of you who have seen the episode, you probably know a little bit of how the flow of this is going to go, but we want to find out who this guy is. So before all the real estate, the hundreds of subject twos, the hundreds and hundreds of flips, the thousands of wholesale deals, who is Mr. Hustle? How did he get his start and where'd he come from?

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Let's talk about the hustle before the struggle. That's right. Or the struggle before the hustle.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

That's it.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

It's a little hustle, right? Growing up in San Antonio, born and raised, uh, my parents were not well off, like many of the stories that we hear uh for the people that come into this podcast. Not well off whatsoever. Uh my dad being from Mexico came over here illegally. Yes, I said illegally. Eventually he fixed it too legally. Uh, but he came over here illegally just trying to shoot for the American dream. Um and the crazy part is, man, growing up, my mom was harder hearing. So she actually knows sign language and she had to talk in sign language. My mom was harder hearing, my uncle was completely deaf. Uh so growing up, I know sign language. But the crazy part I bring this up is because my dad being from Mexico, know English, my mom being harder hearing, know English. How they got together and had me, I don't know. But I'm here. That is crazy. That is crazy. And my mom and dad had three kids: my older brother, who's here in the office, myself and my younger sister. And it's cool to see how people communicate one way or another. If they want to make it happen, they're gonna make it happen. They communicated at us growing up, my dad being from Excel, uh, my mom not being very educated. Really tough living,

Surviving Poverty in Indian Creek

SPEAKER_02 3:10

man. Really tough living. I always joke about Marbach and how Marbok kind of made me the person I am today. But going through the struggles, man, when you're that little without the money, you actually don't know better, to be honest with you. Yeah, that's what I thought. I mean, I I thought it was just maybe like living a normal life, you know.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah, I think that if you like grow up in that, but you're around a whole bunch of other rich people, then maybe, but if you're you know, in San Antonio, that's one thing about us. We've all got our culture, different sides of town kind of stick together. And so I feel like you came from like that area where, like you said, it's just normal. It's it's it is what it is, you don't really know different, and uh it's really, really cool. I know your story, so I'm excited to talk about it on this podcast, but excited to see where you go from there. So obviously, you were born here in San Antonio, born and raised, rough side of town. How was it like? Because that's one thing that I have a question about. So I grew up on the northeast side of town, which is kind of also known as the rough side of town, but for me it was normal too. Like there wasn't really, you know, it's probably a little bit more upper scale, but it wasn't as rough as like people make it out to be. Wagner high school is where I went to high school, Judson High School. How was it growing up violence-wise, I guess, in your side of town?

SPEAKER_02 4:08

So, violent-wise, I mean we don't show this that much, uh, to be honest, you're probably not at all. Probably sharing it for the first time in this podcast. So my dad had a total of nine kids. Wow. And I'm seven of nine, right? So lucky number seven. However, kid number four um didn't have the best of luck. Uh we grew up before Valley High Marbok, there was a neighborhood called Indian Creek. And back when I was a kid, man, that was a really rough area. Uh he actually got murdered, man. He got murdered for his jewelry and his shoes. I didn't even know that. Yeah, I know. That's something we really don't share. But he got murdered, gang affiliated. I mean, he was like 16 years old. I remember as a kid uh talking to him and and kind of going through the motions and just remember him being who he is and just went down the wrong path, you know. And I don't say it's his fault or anything whatsoever. Just that's the way we live, you know. I mean, in that neighborhood that was so gang affiliated, especially Indian Creek back

Early Work Ethic & Side Hustles

SPEAKER_02 5:01

then in the early 90s. I mean, he literally got robbed man and murdered for his shoes and his jewelry. That's cool. So growing up in that mindset, I was little, there wasn't any much of it. I mean, you're so little you don't know the situation, but as we're getting older, I was like, man, this is the rough place that we live in. And as you're talking to your friends in school and high school, like, that's not normal, you know, that's not normal. Um, and we weren't around rich people whatsoever, right? And to be honest with you, if you're around white people, that's all. That's like a whole nother level. And for us, it was just, I don't know, day-to-day living, going through the motions, and you know, went all the way to high school with my brother Roger. And the crazy part is we talked about it in his podcast, is my mom and dad, very low-income minimum wage positions, they would buy our clothes at Goodwill. The crazy part is they would actually buy clothes for Roger at Goodwill, and when he was done with them, I would get them. So I get the hand me downs to the hand-me-downs, and I sometimes I think that's what kind of makes me materialistic, you know? Yeah. The Gucci and all the other stuff that you know I'm kind of over with, to be honest with you. But just going that mindset, just not knowing what the world's out there and what you can achieve because of the position that you're in.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I have so many questions about this. Where do you think that your hustle and drive? We've talked about this many times, and you know, I've got people in my family, you've got people in your family. Some people just have that it factor. Where did it come from from you? How did when did it when did you first know that you've got that that hustle in you?

SPEAKER_02 6:19

So that's really break this down, man. My mom, what she would do is we would actually go down to Mexico, and again, you didn't mean I you don't know this. So most in everyone in the office don't know this. My mom will go down to Mexico and buy like all kinds of random stuff from flowers that had like lights in them to like yo-yos were pretty cool back then, and like all these little trinkets and stuff, bring it back, and she would actually sell it at the flea market, and she would buy them in Mexico by the bulk, like it's like a sands but for Mexican, right? You go down there, you buy all kinds of crazy stuff, buy the dozen. So she'll buy stuff like five dollars for the dozen, and she'll sell them for like a dollar each. And I would go with her to the flea markets, and you know, uh, my uncle being deaf, I don't know if you ever experienced this. A lot of people have every once in while you go to a restaurant, there's someone who comes to your table as deaf, and they'll leave a card on your table. You're experience that they'll leave a card on your table, something, or a pen, and it's like it's the alphabets. I would do that with my uncle hearing, I would hear what they would say, and it's crazy stuff, right? So as I'm going through the motions, and all this is to sell like two pence for a dollar. Two pence for a dollar, or my mom would buy stuff bulk in Mexico, trades and goods, toys, just little knickknacks, and sell at the flea market, and just seeing my parents always hustling. Back then, I didn't know we needed that to pay the bills. I just thought that they were doing that because that was their job. You know what I mean? And that's something people don't realize. If you're doing that to pay the bills and to live versus their job, it's two different things. And they were doing that from day one. My dad always had three jobs, and you know, he's always been there for us as much as he could, monetary-wise, but you know, being in that position, there's not much opportunities, right? It's always three jobs, but they're all low-income jobs. It's tough.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

What were kind of the jobs your dad would do?

SPEAKER_02 7:55

He a cook. He worked worked at Apple V's for like 20 plus years. He's uh a baker at a bakery. Um, just still an odd-in't job. He's

Childhood Living Conditions

SPEAKER_02 8:03

always been in the food industry, um, but yeah, just like low minimum wage jobs. And my mom just flea market, going to restaurants and just selling flowers, going to quinceilleras, and they would sell the bouquet of flowers or going to the club, and you know, you know that. Okay, so the people at the club, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. You always get the hustler that come in with the balloons. My mom did that. She did that. She went to the clubs and tried to sell flowers and go to the guys, and and it's tough because if you can't speak and you have a hard time hearing, yeah. She made ends and meets no matter what. And seeing that growing up, I was like, man, I mean, that's what she's doing. Off her a buck, and you know, we never had an allowance. There's no such thing as an allowance. Parents never give us money. Um, and if they did, it was a big deal. Yeah. Like legit. Remember that one time I gave you money for this? It was a big deal for us.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

That actually makes a lot of sense, and it puts a lot. So we've known each other for a long time. We've been best friends, business partners, work together all the time. I didn't even know a lot of this stuff. So this is actually really it's putting a lot of two and two together. Speak about, you already talked about the hammy-downs of the hammy-downs, but one thing that came out in you and Rogers episode, for those who haven't seen the episode, talk about how uh how long you guys had to share, share a bedroom.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Oh man, this is crazy. This is where we put uh, what do you say, no pause or pause? If you guys don't know, all the way till 10th grade, 11th grade, we stayed in Valley High, three-bedroom, one-bathroom house. Um, mom and dad, one bedroom. My sister's a girl, she gets her own bedroom. So me and my older brother, the one I wear the hand-me downs to the hand-me-downs, we'd actually sleep in the same bed till about 10th grade, 11th grade until we finally got another place where we can actually make a makeshift room and put a little bed. And that's the crazy part that most people don't see. And to be honest with you, that's what actually made me and my brother so close. Yeah. I mean, I hear a lot of crazy horror stories. I don't know how it is with you and your siblings, but my brother's one of my best friends, man. We talk every day, he's in the office every day. You know, we have hobbies together. It's just crazy to see how I see other families that aren't so close, unfortunately. Yeah. But it made us closer.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So that's one thing I really admire about you guys. And y'all was really, I didn't even know y'all were that close. I mean, I knew y'all were close. Y'all worked together and all this stuff, but you know, we knew each other before even Roger worked in the office. You know, he was still doing his medical career. And so I knew y'all were close, but I didn't know how close y'all were until I watched that episode of you both. And it was like, yeah, you could tell.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

Quick little side story. So everyone can understand how close we are. We're one year apart, right? One year apart in like two months. That tells me my parents had him, and like three months later they had me. So they went wasted no time. But my brother was in fourth grade and I was in third grade, he actually flunked fourth grade. So I came on to fourth grade, right? And I was like, as we're both in fourth grade, you know, really motivated him to make sure he does his school works and do what he's got to do. But from fourth grade to 12th grade, we actually graduated together. Uh, when we walked the stage, I mean we both had the same last names. He's right next to me as we walk the stage, and just a lot of a lot of really good cohesion there that's from from being uh my older brother.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

What do you think the number one? So you obviously you got the hustle from your mom, your dad. That's so cool. Your dad's obviously invited to the cookout, he's the the chef. Senor hustle. Um but what do you think is like the number one takeaway you got from maybe you didn't even realize it at the time, but

Becoming a Father at 16

SPEAKER_00 10:59

from growing up, I guess, in poverty?

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Growing up in poverty, we didn't have means to do anything fun. There was no vacations, you know. We have some stories, you know, what we did growing up in two different worlds, and it is what it is. Can't blame someone for having that life to live in. But we didn't have fun growing up. Fun for us with just whatever we can come up with in the backyard. Right. No trips to Disney World, no nothing extravagant. If we did go on vacation, it was the corpus, and that was like once every two, three years. Um, and just going through the motions of understanding how life is really took me the desire to like, man, I really got to push more for myself. But even then, still in middle school, high school, I thought if I had a good paying job, I made it. Not knowing what else is out there, and that's crazy because there's so many people in that same position that might have a hard time seeing beyond what's actually out there for them that may feel like it's unattainable, uh, may not happen. You know, I can never be in that position because I don't have X, Y, and Z. And just showing my parents doing what they're doing instilled in me the hustle.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Or sometimes you just don't know what you don't know. You don't even know what's available out there, right? Yeah, it's just like it's it's whole something new to you. So talk about you uh you're getting into high school, you went to John Jay on Marbock. John Jay on Marbock.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

It's actually a really good school, though, by the way. I don't know, everyone always has it's actually a really good school. I don't know why people have such a hard time about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

We um we went there a couple months ago. You were invited to go back and speak, and it was really cool to see see your uh former school where you graduated and people still having you out to speak and motivate.

First Job at McDonald's

SPEAKER_00 12:23

That was really cool. Um, first job?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Going back to that John Jay. You saw what happened afterwards? Now they that John Jay core where they invited me to go speak to students who are having a hard time financially, spiritually, that had shifted into now is gonna be John Jay C B C. Yeah. So it's really cool to see how something so small makes a big trickle effect on now is gonna be CBC. That's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yeah, shout out to your friends. I think he had a lot to do with the city. He did, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Hustlers. Real estate investing doesn't have to be overwhelming and you don't have to do it alone. If you've been watching from the sidelines, scrolling past deals on Zillow or binging YouTube videos, but still not taking action, this is for you. That's why we built Hustle Academy, a community designed for new and experienced real estate investors who want to learn, network, and grow. Inside Hustle Academy, you'll get weekly live calls, QA sessions, and step-by-step classes on fix and flip, wholesaling, creative finance, and my favorite subject who deals. Everything you need to know to build real skills and start closing real deals. You'll join a powerful group of like-minded hustlers who are sharing wins, breaking down deals, and all pushing towards the same goal financial freedom through real estate. If you're ready to level up, no matter what stage you're starting at, join Hustle Academy today, tap the link in the description, or visit hustleacademy.com and let's trump the hustle together. Uh, first job. First job. So I consider my first job working with my mom, the flea market. We wake we would wake up early. We would have to get up at five in the morning because we have to be there at six. Because we can get to the flea market, and we're not we're talking about the hood flea markets where there's dirt in your eyes. You have to get there early to get the good spots. Yeah. So I've always considered that my first job along with my uncle, where we go to those restaurants and put pins downs and like a little pamphlet about how to say the ABCs and sign language. Um, and then they would donate a couple of dollars. But my first real job after that, I guess it would be McDonald's. McDonald's. Yeah, whatever I could do. Cashier, I don't know. Back then, I was so young, I was 16 years old. This is a true story. I think at McDonald's, you had to be 16 to work there. When I turned 15, I was so motivated to work, man. I went to McDonald's, and this is before the internet and all that good stuff. I would lie my application, man. I said I was 16. I said I was born one year earlier so I can start working on the city. You bought your fake idea or what? Huh? You bought a fake ID or something. No, but you know what I do you need as a 15 year old, 16-year-old. Back then, all I went was applied to say I was born one year earlier. They gave me the job. So I was working at McDonald's at 15. Uh, the second job I would work on whenever I was off at McDonald's was a restaurant. I think they closed it down now, but it's called Acadiana. It's over there by Marbot. Because it was, it was a really big Cajun restaurant that was been around for mom

Enlisting in the Army

SPEAKER_02 14:59

and pop? Yeah, but big mom and pop's. They closed it down after like 30 plus years or so. But I would work at McDonald's, and whenever I was off at McDonald's, I work at the other restaurant. Is McDonald's open today? McDonald's still open, yeah. The one in Valley High. And the crazy part is I would call, man. I would call I just got the bug to work, man, and I would call on my days off. I would call and see if they needed someone needed to be relieved or something. And I was getting into trouble because I got so much overtime.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Oh dang.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

True story. Good old McDonald's.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

One, I think we gotta take your Lampos over there and do uh a photo.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

It's crazy. Yeah, we gotta do that. And it's crazy because I think there are some handful of people that are still there today.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

That'd be cool. That'd be cool to go do a video and photo shoot, stuff like that, with definitely some content ideas there. Um next couple jobs, or what happened after that?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

As a Target, right? And I went I did Target at this point. I'm I'm still in high school. Yeah. I was one of the statistics from Marbach that I did get my girlfriend in high school pregnant at the time. So that life really hit me quick, right? I mean, I was 16, 17 when

MEPS & Color Blindness

SPEAKER_02 15:56

I found out she was pregnant. I was like, man, what am I gonna do with myself? Um and the military always spoke out to me, man. I was in ROTC at the school and I thought I was gonna join the military, so I, you know, I I did. I was like, what else? What other options do I have? College, man, I just hate school, man. I hate school, I hate homework, I hate school. I hate studying, I hate going to classes and taking notes. I just hate it. Just I don't know, man, just can't do it. So I was like, what am I gonna do? I'm 16, 17 years old in high school. My girlfriend in high school is pregnant, but I have a baby. I'm working at McDonald's. I said, let me be all I can be, man. And I joined the military.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

How did it work with Roger? He didn't want to go.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

So Roger, my older brother, uh, we actually took our test together, and the day we're supposed to leave, um, he he he cheesed out me and Kofi uh Kofi, you know, for whatever personal reasons, probably girl. Whatever personal reasons, he cheesed out. And three days after high school, I took off and went to the army, man. Oh, damn. So you appreciate it. I graduated, I actually joined while I was still a senior, and then when we graduated, three days after graduation, I took off to the army. What'd your parents think? My mom didn't want to do it, man. She was scared. Um, you know, she heard uh horror stories, and my dad was like, eh, what else can you do? Um my mom signed because she had to sign because I was a minor. Yeah. And she had she ended up signing because I told her if she didn't sign, I was gonna sign anyways after I turned 18. So she figured, well, that's what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

So your dad was cool with the side.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, I was cool with it, man. Go see the world, go travel, go do what I didn't do.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

You said that you had been wanting to be in ROTC. ROTC obviously prepped you for it. This was was it obviously wasn't a childhood dream or something you've been wanting to do.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

I wouldn't say it's a childhood dream, man. My childhood dreams actually was two things that I never actually ended up doing. One, nobody hates me, but I wanted to be a cop. Oh dang. I wanted to be a cop, and I went to the military, and this is a true story. As I'm going through the motions, they said, What job do you want to do? So I want to be a military police, and they said no. You know why they said no?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

No idea.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Because I'm colorblind. I had no idea what colorblind even meant. I really thought it was a joke. When that lady told me you're colorblind, I mind you, I'm a little poor kid. I don't know what's going on. What, like, yeah, seriously, what's colorblind? She showed me a book and she's like, What numbers can you see? I was like, What numbers are you talking about? There's a number

Early Passion for Cars

SPEAKER_02 18:00

in the book, and I just I couldn't see the number. Yeah. There's people over to my left and right, and as we're doing our tests, they would say 86, whatever that number was. And I really thought everyone was playing a joke on me. I didn't really know that was such a thing as colorblind. And I guess you can't be colorblind and be a guy.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

That's funny. I don't even know if you know this story. So I've got a fairly similar story. I went through my whole childhood, everything was good, whatever. 15 years old, I went to get my driver's permit, and we were at the DMV and waited two hours in lines back in the old days when it was wrapped around the building, blah, blah, blah. And so get all the way up there. I'd already gone through driver's ed, already passed my driver's ed test. All I needed to do is get the actual ID. And I'm at the counter, gave her the information, here's paperwork, blah, blah, blah. Put my head in the little thing, start reading the lines. All right, go to the next one. I said, Hey, you need to turn the machine on. Yeah, it's on. I said, I don't see anything, dude. My sister comes in. Three, seven, nine. She's like, no, stop, stop saying it. I was like, what the heck, dude? So I go in there, it's like, yeah, you gotta go get glasses and come back. I never knew I couldn't see. Like I could see stuff, obviously, but like whatever line that we had progressed to, I couldn't see past a certain point. I was normal, right? Yeah, I didn't know. You just don't know what you don't know. Exactly. So I had to go get glass. I was so mad, dude. I was so mad I didn't want to wear glasses. Exactly. So, anyways, interesting story. Um Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

I wanted to be a mechanic, man. So I wanted to be a mechanic. So in high school, that was your childhood thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

You want to be a mechanic.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

I was like, I want to get a be a mechanic, I'm gonna work on cars, I'm gonna open up my own window tent alarm shop, and I'm gonna go in business for myself. And then I remember we had uh a school rep, and there was a big school called UTI, UTI, University Technical Institute

Basic Training Culture Shock

SPEAKER_02 19:29

or something like that. So they came to the school and I was like, man, that's what I want to do. I'm gonna be a mechanic, I can work at any dealership. And then when they said, all right, this is how much it costs, it's like 50 G. So I was like, all right, well, that's not gonna happen. And then military was number three. Have you ever changed a car oil?

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:42

I could change oil, I could do tune-ups, I can do spark plugs, I can change brakes, drums, rotors. Dang. No one's been a car guy. Yeah. Hence the Lamborghini. It's not just one of those guru things. I actually wanted a Lamborghini ever since I was a kid.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

I'm learning something new about you. I didn't even know you could do that.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

You're not handy on the houses, though.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Why when you get the house? Exactly. But you see, I don't like, I don't want to be putting tiles, it's not a passion. Yeah, yeah. Cars is a passion. So I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty on cars if I had some downtime. That makes sense. But not at the houses. I don't want to be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Speaking of which, I don't even know. I've never seen them. You have classic cars? I've heard the stories, I've heard rumors, but I never, me and you never talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Quite a few. We actually, me and my brother just talking about this the other day. He went to go pull those out. So I got a 48 Chevy. Oh well. Some of you know what that is. It's 48 Chevy flu. So Chevy built-in 48, I'm guessing. Yeah, but when you say 48 Chevy, it's which one? 48 Chevy. We got an 85 cutlass. Um, and then over the years, while we were partners and stuff, I sold a 63 Impala, I sold a 64 Impala, a 64 Impala convertible. Um, I had an 86 Corvette. And this is all while we're buddies. I just I don't drive them. Yeah, I never seen them. We don't talk about it. Roger seen them, my family's seen them. Always been a crazy.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Christian storage, what? Storage. Interesting. What was your favorite, I guess, out of all the ones?

SPEAKER_02 20:53

The coolest cars, man, the classics is always

Combat Medic in Iraq

SPEAKER_02 20:56

gonna be the Impala's the 63 or 64 Impala's. But those things are like boats, man. We're talking about big boats. I actually used to drive them in the old office and I actually do content with them. I used to drive for dollars in the Impala. Yeah. It was like 63 Impala. Like blade rims on them or something, spikes coming out. It's the iconic Mexican car, dude. Every Chicano Mexican should always want a 63 or 64 Impala. And I'm glad I got that dream. But I'm over it. I'm already over. Yeah. I'm more exotics now. Excuse that.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

So you're going to the military. You joined at 16. 17. Yeah, 17.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I joined at 17 and then I went to the military. And then when I got to the military, I was so surprised, dude. You'd be surprised in the military. If all you know, and I'm going to hint on Marbok, if all you know is Marbok growing up in Marbok, and you joined the military where there are so many different guys and girls from all over the world, not even the United States, come together and say, Hey, you guys are gonna be a unit for the next 12 weeks. And I was so culture shocked on people from different languages, different regions of the world, and you know, I was so narrow minded in the city. Of San Antonio, because that's all I knew. So crazy to see so many different cultures, so many traditions, um, speaking to different individuals on their culture and their way of living, and then you're thrown in the mix with older people, younger people, white. I mean, it's so crazy that really opened up my eyes, man. The military changed me and actually made me the person I am today. A lot as to do with the military, man.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

We've talked a lot about that. Where was your first initial training?

SPEAKER_02 22:22

So I'm like, oh, my initial training was uh South Carolina. South Carolina, it was hot. I remember at the age of 17, I was in my first time on an airplane, right? They sent me to South Carolina. First time on an airplane, I was scared, nervous, didn't know what to expect. Get there, they're just yelling at you in your face. Um it was cool. I liked it. It was really cool. I was so gung-ho, man. I was like, man, I'm gonna be army ranger, best of the best. And that shifted quickly when I found out how the pay works, which we can get into. Uh, but it was a cool experience, man. Went to basic training. Uh my first job was to actually Combat Medic. And people was like, man, why'd you pick Combat Medic? Because you're heroic. True story, man. The reason I picked Combat Medic is because they teach you here at Fort Sam. I was one of the ones who did not want to go explore the world. I had a kid in San Antonio. I had my parents who I was really, really close to, still am to my dad, you know, my mom passed. But parents were really, really close to, I didn't want to go explore. I wanted to be as close to San Antonio as possible. So I became a medic, man. And the cool thing about a medic, now that I actually did it, is when the soldiers go down, you're the ones that go fight towards the bullets to get this the soldier. And I've seen some crazy stuff, man, that were, you know, you'd be surprised that we obviously we don't ever talk about that's really crazy stuff that goes on on the other side of the world. And you know, that was my first my first job was combat medic.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

How did you pick the army? Why the army versus the other branches?

SPEAKER_02 23:41

The army because you get to pick your job. Yeah. I wanted to go to the Air Force because in ROTC was Air Force, but when I figured when they told me you can't pick your job, I was like, oh yeah, I ain't doing that. I want to go and join the Air Force and become a cook or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Why is it the only army the only one?

SPEAKER_02 23:53

I could be wrong. Maybe it's times of change. Yeah. But in the army, and back then you had to have an Azov score of 110 and hire. And if you get that 110 mark, you're smart. So I got that 110 mark. I got that 110 mark, so I could pick any job I want. But then I got so limited because I was colorblind. That's why I figured I couldn't do the MP, military police. Yeah. I couldn't do that. Um I couldn't be a mechanic either. So I picked up this the third choice was the medical field. So I liked it. I mean, it helped me a lot to where I am at.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

So for those who don't know, how long is training? Basic training?

SPEAKER_02 24:23

Basic training is 12 weeks.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

12 weeks. Twelve weeks. Now we're 12 weeks. South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

South Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

And then you're going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

And then after that, you go to your job. Whatever job you pick, I pick Combat Medic. So I came to San Antonio and that took me 36 weeks. Of training. Yeah. And that's crazy because that's a lot of training. You gotta become a paramedic quick. You gotta know all your CPR skills, you gotta know all the anatomy, you gotta know every single uh trauma-wise medical skills, right? Chest and the tube and the chest, because the chirop, I mean all kinds of crazy stuff they teach you and all stuff that we signed NDAs that you're not supposed to talk about. But it's a lot of crazy stuff. So once you do that, and then you go to your duty station and be a combat medic. My first duty station happened to be Fort Hood, First Cavalry, which is a ruling how fitting. Fort Hood? Yeah, Fort Hood. Yeah, the hood's up to no good. Uh and it's first calf, man. And first cav was a real to me, it's a real prestigious unit. Uh a lot of good movies about it. Uh few good men, few good soldiers, with uh Mel Gibson as the first calf. Uh what's the name? The old dude.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Um the wrong guy, sir.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

I know. The old guy was old. A lot of first calf stuff, man. First calf is really cool. It's out

Frontline Realities & Loss

SPEAKER_02 25:29

of forehead. And deployed to Iraq 06-08. Saw some crazy stuff when I was in Iraq, being a combat medic for infantry and the tankers. And as you're there for that first time, and I remember hearing that first mortar coming in, a mortar's a bomb coming in to where you're living at, freaked out, dude. I bet. You freaked out, right? I mean, you hear the sirens going off. When the sirens go off, that means mortars are coming in, and the mortars are just hopefully they hit somebody, right? Uh there was barriers that we had to go to after about three, four months, just like anything else, dude, just like in life. Used to it. Just get used to it. And mortars come in, you just stop caring. You just be in bed, and if it happens, it happens. And that's a true story. And if you're doing that with your life, if you're doing that with your own life, how many people are watching this podcast now are stuck in their day-to-day nine to five, and you need someone to wake you up and say, hey, you could be stuck in the position every single day. And know what's out there and be conscious of it.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

How long was it from the time you enlisted to the time you were deployed to Iraq the first time or overseas the first time?

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Yeah, two years, two years. Oh, it's quick. Two and a half years. Um crazy stuff in Iraq, man. I've seen some crazy stuff that probably shouldn't be best to be talked about, but some stuff that the bad guys did to the good guys. And I've been to one of Saddam Hussein's house. I had the opportunity to drive a big tank and shoot the big gun at Saddam Hussein's.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

I just learned about this a couple weeks ago. I was in shock.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

Yeah, so I those those tank rounds were big, and you put them in the big main hole and you shoot the tank, the whole tank goes up and down. I shot one of Saddam Hussein's houses, personal houses. That was pretty cool. Met a lot of Iraqi big wigs out there because me being the medic, I've always got to be places where I shouldn't be. Yeah. Because of my rank. And right back then I was a private first class. But as a medic, I gotta be with the commander, I gotta be with this individual, I got to be in certain meetings. In case something happened, I'm there. So I was pretty much an infantryman with medical skills. Something were to happen. You're the guy. Come and make it the first thing. But I was always protected. Yeah. Because if I go down, it's bad, you know?

SPEAKER_00 27:27

So they got your back. Yeah. So you have been, I've seen different footages and stuff over the year, especially on like Veterans Day and stuff. You'll post some stuff. You've actually saved a few people's lives and helped them from, I guess, from dying because they're you're on the front lines. Tell a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

I'll share one of them, man, or I'll share a couple of them. One of them actually wants to be on a podcast. I didn't even tell you this, but and I'm excited to get him on the podcast one day. Um unfortunately he lost one of his legs on there. Um but one of the, and this route, to be honest with the one I'm telling you about, the tank went over some IDs, um, some

The "Golden Handcuffs" Trap

SPEAKER_02 27:58

landmines. Tank went over some landmines, and as the landmine went over the tank, it blew up the tank. So much pressure that the tank goes up. You know what I mean? Those tanks are tons and tons of weight. And as it's happening, the tank is screaming. We're in the back, and they're yelling doc. In the army, they they call it medics doc. Right? Hey, doc, I need the doc. So they're yelling doc, doc, doc. You're drilling the hits, and life goes on, and I'm running with a uh buddy of mine. We're running towards the tank, and as I'm running halfway, I stop. Halfway. And I look at my buddy. I was like, we're literally running on the landmine field. The tank got blown up by a landmine, and here we are running towards a landmine. Stop for about half a second, look at each other. So we just kept running. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Um, but the guy who was in the tank, unfortunately, lost his leg, lost his leg from the shatter of the IED as one of them. Uh another one was my LT, my commander, uh my platoon leader. He's the one that's in charge of the platoon, right? Went out. Unfortunately, he did some hand-to-hand

Managing Military PT Clinics

SPEAKER_02 29:01

combat. And the guy who was hand-to-hand combat with was um he had a suicide vest. So he blew up the suicide vest and KA right then and there. And the crazy part is it was a Mother's Day weekend, man. So every year on Mother's Day, man, it's always and the reason I say that is because he was single with no kids. It just is he just had his mom. That's a tough Mother's Day for, man. That's a tough one. So stuff like that uh reminds you how short life is. Um and to be close to the peer the ones that are next to you, be close to the people that are not next to you. Yeah. They could take it for granted, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

So having gone through all that in the military, I mean, so much is from your your childhood, your military background. Obviously, I know most of it, but that made you who you are today. What do you think? How was that, how did that impact your hustle coming back after you got out of that? Because I know kind of where the story's going after this, but how do you think that inspired you to do what you do today?

SPEAKER_02 29:53

So being in Iraq, seen some crazy stuff, right? Had some the LT actually died in arms. Um that was pretty tough. Calling the Medevac and come getting him. Um there was another guy next to him, his name is Sarn Coward. Um he also had losses late that same incident. So you're in the moment, and like, man, as I'm there, it was time for me to reenlist. I was like, as you're in Iraq, like, man, I'm seeing this. What up, what if I get out? What am I gonna do? And you'd be surprised. And what I'm about to share is not only for the military, but it's also for a lot of people who have nine to five. Yeah. Meaning, I was in a war zone getting shot at literally, getting blown up, literally, because when you're in the trucks, you got the IEDs, they would hit my vehicle multiple times. I'll do another four years. Why? Because if I get out, what am I gonna do? I don't have a job lined up, I don't have any security. So if I'm in a war zone doing that, how many people are stuck in a nine to five? Like, hey, yeah, I'm just gonna keep working nine to five because I don't have that game plan. But going back to my Iraq situation, it's one too many IEDs, man. So one too many things. So I actually changed my job after that. I was like, I don't want to be doing this no more men. So I switched from combat medic to uh physical therapy. Okay, so from seeing blown up legs to helping soldiers walk again with prosthetic legs and and doing all that kind of stuff. That was more training because you had to be specialized. Right. Uh and the cool thing is when the army teaches you, they pay for everything. So I actually got a degree in physical therapy paid by the Army while I was still in the Army to work with soldiers to do rehab rehabilitation training, uh, especially when it comes to veterans and common vets.

Buying My First House

SPEAKER_00 31:28

And by that time, you're you're how long in the military?

SPEAKER_02 31:30

This year, it's probably around year eight or so. Okay. Six, seven, eight. Um, and then I got transferred here to Fort Sam Houston. And it's not common to be stationed where you're from. So when I got stationed where I'm from, the first thing I want to do was buy a house. Um and that kind of started the whole real estate journey. But being here, and I know I talked about this a couple of times, as you're in physical therapy, going through the motions, I had my own clinic, right? So I actually run a whole clinic department, a big department in Louisiana from all the rehab, from physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiropractic. And the goal is to create RVUs, which is that's how the hospitals make money. So standardizing a company, uploading a new company, which is a chiropractic company, from ground up, hiring chiropractors. I'm like a kid still, I'm like 24 years old. Yeah, but the way they put you in that position, I was hiring interviewing chiropractors for opening up a whole new chiropractic clinic in a brand new hospital that they gave me like millions of dollars to play with. I'm like, man, cool. I'll sign here, sign there. It's crazy how how much opportunity the Army puts in your hands at such a young age, depending on your rank. At that point, I was an E6. Um put so much money in your hands, but at the same time, they also micromanage your life. And it's it's hard to do. In what ways? It's hard to explain, man. Uh here's a million dollars, multi-million dollars to go create

Getting Licensed in Real Estate

SPEAKER_02 32:44

a new clinic for the hospital. Here's a rifle, go kill people if needed. But if you want to go past 100 miles, you need to put all kinds of paperwork because I need to know where little stuff like that. It's crazy how the army has so many. All you veterans are watching. I expect a bunch of comments on understanding what I'm talking about uh when it comes to that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

But even then, uh, and I went to go work for Baylor, and that's how I became an instructor for Baylor University, teaching physical therapists how to work with PT text and understanding both. Yeah, I was young. So crazy to kind of go through the motions on being deployed, going through emotions. I had my daughter back home, um, second job. I was running hospitals, clinics of the hospitals, teaching physical therapy. I was at Baylor University, and then I bought my first house. I was like, man, this real estate can't be too hard.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

So that was the first little foot

Balancing the Army & Real Estate

SPEAKER_00 33:33

in the door pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

First foot in the door in real estate, man. I got stationed in San Antonio. First thing I did was bought a house over there by Sea Road, and I thought I made it, man. I really thought I mean don't get me wrong, houses are nice no matter what what a house you have. But as a poor kid from Valley High, grew up in Marbach, be stationed where I'm from, I'm wearing my uniform, loud and proud, and I bought my first house, three bed, two baths, 2,700 square feet. Um, with a swimming pool in the back. I just thought it got the pool. You made it, yeah. I just I just thought I made it, man. And you know, I would help my mom out even to that day, uh, paying some of her bills and just I don't know, being a good person, man.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

So in your eighth year, you're doing all this stuff, managing millions of dollars, got your first house, how much are you making a year?

SPEAKER_02 34:14

As a staff sergeant in the United States Army, if you recall that correctly, probably like a good $40,000 to $50,000 minus BAH. BAH is what they give you to buy your house. So if you add the BAH, I don't know, $55-ish.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

So teacher salary, basically.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

55-ish. And that's where I bought my first house and I went to the motions. I was like, man, this is pretty cool. Not nothing of it. And I was bringing this up because I'm sure he's probably gonna watch it. Uh my um father-in-law, his name is Charles, who happens to be one of my business partners back then, uh, told me, hey man, why'd you become a realtor? I was like, why do I become a realtor? I actually got these tattoos because I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do 20 years in the army, I'm gonna be a whole, whole, whatever whole means like all full going.

Military Pay vs. Real Estate Income

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Um, and he said, Become a realtor. I was like, why would I become a realtor? I'm already waking up early because I had to, not because I want to, yeah, to go work out. Right? I've done marathons before. I've I'd love to run. I've worked out from the army. I teach soldiers. The cool part, I was actually doing PT for people who lost their legs. And I was doing PT with those guys, and they're whole and they're so motivated. I was like, I'm not gonna get out after full days of work and go do real estate. Yeah. Until he said, I'll pay for your license. I'm never gonna turn down free money, man. So he paid for my license. I took the real estate course and I did my first transaction. I was lost, dude. I was lost. I don't know what's going on because at school they teach you contracts and paperwork. They don't teach you how to go find leads. They don't teach you how to find deals, they don't find how to find leads. They just show you numbers, paperwork, contracts, and go do business. I did my first closing and it was like a $150,000 house or something, and that commission was 3%. It was like $4,500. You said, dang. Man. If I do one a month, I'm good. I'll just literally double my money. And that's how I got hooked, man, on real estate.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

So your hours were what in the military at that point?

SPEAKER_02 36:00

I would have to be there at 5 30 in the morning. And get out? I'd have to get up at 4 30-ish.

Closing 55 Deals in Year One

SPEAKER_02 36:04

Um, 7 30, 1730, 7, 5.36.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

And then how would you have time for real estate?

SPEAKER_02 36:08

I would change in my car and go show houses. It's a true story. I would change in my car, go show houses. I would always have two sets of clothes in my trunk. Um and back then I was real conscious about my tattoos. Yeah. First going out from military mindset to now helping families make a huge financial decision, making a lifetime decision on buying their next house. I just thought I had to look department. Yeah. Long sleeves. You look at my stuff from way back then, always long sleeves. I always thought people would judge me about my tattoos. Um, yeah, always long sleeves, always two pairs in a car, show houses, write-up contracts. I would always work Saturdays and Sundays because people were off on Saturdays and Sundays. I was off Saturdays and Sundays from the military, and that's when I would just hustle, hustle, man. I would just that's when the whole Trump the hustle hit me. In the army, no matter how hard I was a motivated soldier, they they evaluate you by how good

10X Event & Creating the Brand

SPEAKER_02 37:04

your PT scores are, how fast can you run, how many pushes can you do, how many sips can you do, how good you can shoot, your college education, your military education, put that on combined, they'll give you a score. So I and that's how they evaluate you, right? And they'll give you a score, and back then it was an 800. 800, you're a perfect soldier. I had to shoot really, really hard to get the 800 because they based you off your promotions. And if they don't need nobody, they'll put an 800. So back then I was hustling so hard to be the perfect soldier, but the person next to me who is the same rank can be the worst soldier, and at the end of the day, we get the same pay. Everyone's salary, we're just a number.

SPEAKER_01 37:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Versus real estate, the more deals I would do, the more paychecks I would get. And that's literally where the term the hustle is coined. Like, man, the more I hustle, the more I'm gonna get paid. And to me, man, money was key.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

Is there any special, because I don't even know the answer. Is there any special story behind like were you at a restaurant when the turn up the hustle came? Were you at the office? How did the act? What was the first time?

SPEAKER_02 37:59

Oh,

Leaving a 12-Year Military Career

SPEAKER_02 38:00

okay. I'm glad you asked because you don't even know this yourself. I went to uh I was doing really good, man, in real estate. I was still in the army, I believe. I was doing really good in real estate. My first year I did 55 transactions as a realtor, and that's a lot. And people ask me, Mike, there's no way. The books are there. Go look at the MLS. Um back then I was doing a lot of Zillow leads. I worked with lenders and said, Hey man, you pay for the lender leads and I'll go do the deals and then I'll make you the lender. So we would that's mine. It's different nowadays, but back then you could pick your zip codes. Guess what zip code I picked? Marbox. Marbox, man. I knew all the streets, I knew all the listings as soon as they came up, as soon as a phone call came, hey, this house on Nollwood, I already knew the house because I hadn't already did the lead somewhere else. I was on it, man, for the area I grew up in, which is 78227, 242, and 245. So I if back then when you would go on Zillow and pick a house, on the right hand side would be a picture of me in a black suit. Want more information, contact this guy. They'll contact me, I will get the lead. Hey, this is Michael with whatever, and I would that's how I get all my leads. And that's how I did 55 transactions. Uh but fast forward, I went to 10X. I took me and about 10 guys. Uh I've always been in the military, it's always about camaderie. It's always about the person next to you. And I took that and implemented it in my real estate lifestyle because that's all I need. And I took about 10 guys with me to uh Eli, who's actually one of my beliefs, um, to 10X in Miami, and he kept saying 10X, 10X. Everything you do, 10X. And I was like, you know what? I think I gotta start doing content. What can I say as a slogan to say something like 10X? And I just concentrated, concentrated, and the word hustle is like I'm a hustler and turn up the hustle. I wanted to do something where it's not just real estate related. Yeah. And I'm my little saying, I've always said this before, don't take this personally, but don't matter if you flip bricks, burgers, or houses, whatever you want to do, you should always do the best and turn off the hustle. And that's where it came from, man. From a spawn of 10X in Miami. That is cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

That's very cool. You were 10 years in the military?

SPEAKER_02 39:57

12. I did 12 years in the military. And I had such a hard time, man. And for you guys who are veterans that are watching, once you pass 10 years, I mean you're halfway there. Yeah. In the military, it's a lot different than civilian lifestyle. I joined at the age of 17. If you stayed 20 years, age of 37, you retire. At the age of 37, oh, you know, because yeah, what you got going on? Yeah. At the age of 37, you get a paycheck for the rest of your life. And I did 12 years in. I had eight more years. I had so many people on one year, staff's aren't gonna make the wrong choice, you're making the wrong decision, you're already more than halfway there, you're about to make the E7 list, which is our first class. I was really fast tracking, is what we call it in the army, really fast tracking because the highest ranking in the army is E9 as an enlist. Yeah. I was at E7, I'm I had 12 years. For sure I would have made E9 by the time I retired. But on this side, I was still stuck in, I don't want to be far from San Antonio. My family's here and I'm really uh family oriented. You know, my kids were here, and I was like, if I do eight more years in the army, you get half your pay for retirement. So if I was making six grand a month, you'll get three grand a month for the rest of your life. This side, that's only a couple of sub twos. If I do a couple of sub twos and I cash flow, I'm gonna do all this work for eight more years to get three grand, or I can really focus on this real estate

The Case for Mandatory Enlistment

SPEAKER_02 41:17

career, get a couple rentals that would cash flow me three grand. And to believe it or not, man, I actually did that surpassed that in the first year. So I'm glad I got out of the army. Uh it taught me a lot who I am, it trained me to who I am, I was a person I want to be, instilled leadership in me, and that's actually an acronym in Army. Let me see if I remember it. Loyalty, duty, respect, civil service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. That's the acronym for leadership, and it applied it to my everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

What was it like when you finally clicked and you said, Yeah, I'm done, I'm out. Was it pretty bittersweet? Or were you just like, you're over it, you're ready to get out, or how was that last decision?

SPEAKER_02 41:51

It was tough, man. And I did I didn't make my decision until literally, literally less than 30 days. And once I finally made my decision, I'm getting out, I had to fast track everything. All the paperwork had to be done. They kicked me out so quick. And I and as I get out, I didn't get no money from the military. I didn't get no retirement, I didn't get no semi-retirement. I just thank you for your service for 12 years, and that was it. Um, and I realized all the awards I got that I worked really hard for. That's it. Yeah. And now it's just collecting dust. Not to say it's not worthy. It's very prestigious. But life goes on with or without you. And those military awards I got that it still hold near and dear to my heart, to you, I mean, you know, nothing you specifically. You're not in the military. To you, it's like, oh, that's cool. That's it. Nobody can appreciate it as much as no one will appreciate as a veteran, man. But for the non-veterans, which is the majority of the world, non-veterans, that's cool, man. What you got going on? What's next? And it realized, man, the life moves on, man. Life really moves on. Um, and it goes back to what we said in the beginning. You just don't know what you don't know. And then making all that money in real estate, that's when in that's the currency, that's the value I see. In the army, I could be score number 800, or in the mid and civilian world, if I'm a hustler and entrepreneur, how many houses can I collect?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

And I'm playing real life monopoly.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

I have a hot take that I don't even we might have talked about this, but I don't think so. I personally, I obviously was never in the military, never did ROTC, never even considered it, was not even a thing. Nobody really talked about it. My grandparents were in the military, but absolutely you know, that's the kind of the generation that was everybody was in the military, right? Or knew somebody in their family that was. And just never was a thing for me. However, as an adult now, and seeing kind of where our country's at, I would never if I was president for a day, I would make this a rule. I would never be president for a day, and this would never pass in any ways. I think that it should be required. This is gonna be a hot take. I think it should be required for every individual, especially male, maybe not female, but at least for every male

First MLS Investment Deal

SPEAKER_00 43:53

required to do at least two or four, or whatever the minimum is, or what even if it has to change, I think it should be required for everybody to be in the military at least. For a minimum of two, four years. Why? Because there's no culture in America as far as like being American and patriotic. I think a lot of that's been gone and out the tubes. There's a lot of people who were in your situation. Had you not gone into the military, you wouldn't have been the guy you were. You wouldn't have experienced the culture, the different cultures, a different life, like you said, you wouldn't have got the structure, maybe, maybe not, but probably wouldn't have got the structure. You wouldn't be, you know, where you are. And so I just think that there's so many people, you know, there's two different kinds of economies we always talk about. You got the really, really high end, the really low end. The really high end need to get off their high horse, and going to the military would do that. And the really low end need to get brought up. That's why I really think it would level the playing field. And not only that, it would bring people who are in two different type uh two different levels of life, maybe super rich and well off, and people who are not, put them on the same page, have each other's backs. But I don't, I just think I'm a huge, huge fan and believer. I think that the country should go that way. It'll never happen. I don't think it'd be a conversation that'll happen, but you know, I don't know. It's my take. Some countries that do that now, right? What's that?

SPEAKER_02 44:55

There are some countries that do that now. I don't know which ones, but Korea? Yeah, there's some countries that do that now. Uh I'm for it. Yeah. I mean, I think in this day and age, unfortunately, uh, cancel culture. If you're patriotic, you're canceled for some reason. Yeah. I just saw a video this morning, to be honest with you. Um, one of the girls game, uh, Indiana fever. We were doing the uh Pledge of Allegiance. Atlanta sat down, Indiana's only one that set up, and the only person holding their hand to their heart was Sophie Cunningham. That's what I mean, dude. Everybody's putting it. Cancer culture, I don't know. It's for some reason it's cool to be unpatriotic, and I don't know. That's what I mean. Somewhere we lost the plot. Somewhere we lost the plot. The most peak, besides back in the 40s and 50s, all that when it was so um USFA, but the peak was actually after 9-11. 9-11, yeah. And after time goes on, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

And it's sad, and hopefully that's not what it takes again to get people back to being patriotic. But anyways, I I won't harp on it, but I do think that everybody should have to do even if it was like a one-year thing.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

I'm down.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Everybody should have to go through it. All right, military, you find real estate, you become an agent, you do a million transactions, even while waking up at 4 30 in the morning, getting all the leads.

First House Flip ($3K Profit)

SPEAKER_00 45:56

How do you find your first investment deal? Because that's very different from being a traditional realtor.

SPEAKER_02 46:01

So going to the motions, I blew a lot of that money, man. Yeah, I blew, I'd be honest, as a kid from I was still young, man. I was like, what, 24, 25, and making all that kind of money, and I was making my army money was keeping me happy and living. So when I was making, you know, you do two, three deals a month at 4,000, 5,000 piece, that's 15 grand. Yeah, I blew that stuff. I blew it. I blew the money and bought the cars and back to cars. Cars, car parts, jewelry, clothes, the materialistic stuff that I probably didn't have when I was little. Um scoring out, dumb stuff. I don't know, all kinds of crazy stuff. Yeah. Once I got that out of my system, I was like, all right, let me really do something here. Um and I had access to the MLS. I was actually

Discovering Wholesaling

SPEAKER_02 46:40

looking for deals on MLS, and I was lowballing some houses until one of the houses finally said yes. And guess where? Marbox? Got my Marbox. It was behind John J. High School. I was literally scouting um for houses on the MLS, picture operas, and this is back then. Mind you, we're talking about 10 plus years ago. Houses listed for 100 grand. I was just going 50% off, shoot or shoot, and one of them actually said yes. And when they said yes, I didn't have the money.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Oh shoot.

SPEAKER_02 47:05

I didn't have the money. Um, and I told my ex-partner at the time.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Plant some jewelry, dude.

SPEAKER_02 47:09

Yeah, find some jewelry to something, close some deals, and I actually went to go borrow some money because I blew it all. I went to go borrow some money from line of credit, which I actually still have to today, to be honest with you. So when I first got my first line of credit and I bought the house cash, had no idea what hard money was, no idea what private money was. I don't know. The only people I knew had money were in the military. And some of the guys in the military, like, Mike, what do you mean? You're full-time active duty, how you doing real estate? A lot of people didn't believe me. So I was like, okay. So I really didn't share much uh unless the people who really knew me, because that's also how I was doing lots of deals. I was in the military from San Antonio, so when people had to PCS to San Antonio, hey, you need about a house? I'm your guy. When they're leaving San Antonio, you gotta sell your house? I'm your guy. That's also how I got so many houses in my first year. Um but I just went to the motions, man, and my very first flips over to my Marwalk, bought the house cash, no hard money, no private money. Went to the motions, had no idea what I'm doing. Swinging out hammers and busting out walls, and true story, man. That ceiling caved in. That next day I came in. I I was like, I'm gonna do an open floor plan. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just going with it. And uh lucky enough, I actually made money. Nothing crazy. I think it made like six grand, my first flip. And then I was had a partner, so I divide that by two. It was three grand. And I was so happy. Traditional stick traditional, exactly. That's when it hit me. I was like, why am I doing all this for three grand if I can just do another deal? No headache, no skin in the game. But you know, you're anxious, you're you want to do some more stuff. And I was like, let me do it again, find out about what hard money is, finally, start using my resources. How'd you find out? Um, just being in the game, just being in the industry, right? Went to local reels back then. Um just being in the industry, talking to other flippers, and oh, you can do that. And I always thought, like, man, I'm they won't give me a loan, to be honest with you. It took me a long

Scaling Nationwide Wholesaling

SPEAKER_02 48:49

time. So I was like, let me just apply. And when it was so easy, I was like, oh it's a lot easier than buying the whole house cash. So I start leveraging the flips and really got more into flips, man, because even though I was making a lot of money as a realtor, I got bored of it. And when I get bored of it, I was like, eh. So I started doing a lot of uh flips, and at one point I was doing four or five projects, and then I got another deal, and I was so le out-leveraged. Overleveraged? I was so over-leveraged, I couldn't do that deal. So I told a buddy of mine, hey man, they want 110, and really they wanted a hundred. And he said he'll take it. And that's kind of what my first taste of wholesaling. Um and so I made 10 G's, and all I did was that cool, it happened again. I was still overlevered. Another deal came to me, I added about 10 G's, sold it to someone else, and that's how I figured out all right, there's something here. I heard about it because 10 years ago wholesaling was yeah, yeah, it was crazy. If you heard about it, man, you're really looking through the books or going to if you guys know some old school Pete Fortunato, that's like OG OG in real estate. Yeah. Going to one of his classes, and in real estate, there's only been a handful of classes I've been to in Pete Fortunato, old school OG. It was one of the classes I went to. I was like, oh, okay. And that's where wholesale came from. So you're telling me I don't have to be a realtor, I don't have to be flipping houses, I don't have to use hard money, all I have to do is put deals together. I said, I can do that all day long. So end up doing a wholesale operation, actually become one of the biggest in the nation.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

Let me ask you this real. I'm gonna take a step back, or just a side question, real quick. Does there any financial literacy classes in the military? Or they teach you about that at all?

SPEAKER_02 50:17

In the military, your leader, because everyone has a boss in the military. You're as strong as your best leader you had. I actually had some decent leaders, leadership in the military that required me to go to Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's when I actually had my very, very first taste of any financial literacy whatsoever. And that's extreme.

SPEAKER_00 50:38

That's like extreme, extreme.

SPEAKER_02 50:40

And and that was my first woman, Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey. That's cool. Went through the motions, savings account, like what is that? Yeah. Savings account, snowball effect, get out of debt, three, three, six months, the whole I went through the home. The same step plan, yeah. That's cool. Went through the whole motions, got my little diploma. I thought it was really cool. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

So let's back up. And your partner in real estate, the one who got you into real estate, was traditional, was Charles. Was he doing just traditional or he was doing investments at the time?

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Uh he said he was doing investments at the time. Again, that was he was around before I was, man. So he was part of the crash. So, and I'm not gonna bash him or anything because he says it on his own. Uh, when we connected, he was doing a traditional real estate. So a lot of people don't know this, man. You don't need to be a realtor to have your own brokerage. Right. A lot of people don't know that. So, like you, you're not business. Yeah. If you want to have moon uh realty, you can. And he had whatever he had, which was at the time was home buying, home selling realty. Um and he said, Hey man, become one of my realtors. I was like, Cool, go through the motions. But he wasn't a realtor, so the support was kind of tough reality-wise, even though he knew what he's doing. Um, and when I told him, Hey, I want to do a flip, he took a step back and because he had a bad experience of just coming out of the crash. Yeah. Crash was what, oh, eight or something? Yeah. This is like 12. So he had he went through bankruptcy and he talked about it in the podcast. You guys can watch uh podcast number one, I think, right? Yep, yeah. Podcast number one. You can watch his story. Um, but yeah, he was a gun shy. And I'd say it was me, but I think it was a good duo that we did together.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

And then you said he funded your first flip?

SPEAKER_02 52:06

No, I did. Okay, you funded it. He was he was he was behind, he was behind. I mean, he was in bankruptcy, he was cool. Yeah, I remember the story on the podcast. I was just doing deals and deals and deals, and I did a line of credit, I'd use my real estate money, I used my army money. Let me ask you something. You ever thought about investing in real estate but assumed he needed perfect credit? A huge savings account or a bank willing to say yes? That's exactly why I work started to partner with our guy Mike Leva at Conventus. Conventus is a real estate lender built specifically for investors and not homeowners. They help people fund deals like fix and flips, buy and hold rentals, and even ground up construction. And here's the part most beginners don't realize Conventus doesn't lend based on your W-2 income or your personal credit score. They focus on the deal itself, the value of the property, and the numbers behind it. That means investors can often access higher loan amounts and more flexible terms than a traditional bank, sometimes with rates that are more competitive than people expect. So instead of asking, do I qualify? the better question becomes, is this a good deal? If you're serious about getting to real estate investing and want a funding partner that truly understands investors, reach out to our go-to guy at Conventist, Mike Leva, today using the link in the show notes and see how real estate investors are actually getting deals funded.

SPEAKER_00 53:23

So then y'all partner up, you're an agent for him, he sees you do the first flip. We did it together. Okay, we all did it together.

SPEAKER_02 53:30

We were always from day one, we're partners. You know, we did.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

So then y'all did a couple other flips together, you figured out the wholesaling thing together, the first couple deals. How did it evolve? So I met you, just people don't know, I met you in 2020, I would say kind of in the heyday of your prime. I think y'all were, I went to your original or your Babcock off office, which was what was probably the second or third office y'all had. It was booming at that time. Y'all had Ray Galvan, you had you know, Frank and Zecilia were there already. Manny. You had Manny Cash. I remember him, he had his little office doing his thing. I mean, everybody was firing all on all cylinders, and it was uh what I could see from the outside, I didn't know anything about anything. I you know, I had done a couple little rentals and you know, stuff that everybody does. But you know, I didn't know anything about wholesaling, subject to never heard of any of that stuff, but it looked like a really well, and it was a fine old machine. And you know, you had the hustle zone for those who hadn't been there. There was a square in the middle with like looked like uh black and yellow tape, and once you got in there, there was no screwing around, it was straight hustling, and it was cool. It's a really I had a phenomenal time getting to meet you guys and see the office and stuff like that. But how did you go from doing how did both of y'all go? It was a partner deal of doing one flip, learning, making $3,500 each, to this huge operation. I think that's what the people want to know is like how did y'all do that?

SPEAKER_02 54:38

When it comes to wholesaling, I don't want to say there was not that much competition back then, but there was not that much competition that was strategic. Now wholesaling is so saturated, right? Back then, when I was wholesaling at my prime, doing millions a year and just wholesaling specifically, if you were to Google real estate investing, flipping houses would pop up. Yeah. Today, if you Google real estate investing, wholesaling would pop up. Yeah, it was such a different time back then, man. And uh, you know, back then there was no CRMs, I was just going out all crazy, like, how can we make this strategic? And Frank Tovar, um, who actually has a business degree in all business management, he was the missing loo. So when he came in and put his his final touches on everything, and mind you were this was what, six years ago when you first made me? Yeah, yeah. So six years ago, way more motivated. Um, not that much competitions. A wholesaling event was a wholesaling event. And we did that wholesaling live. Uh, there was other big wholesaling events, and wholesaling was such at its peak back then. Now it's just, you know, go on YouTube, they're

Social Media & Calling Out Fake Gurus

SPEAKER_02 55:37

on YouTube, you go on school. There's hundreds of schools on wholesaling. Yeah. So it's just not the same as it was back then. But back then, I don't know, maybe it was luck. Maybe I got the hustle in early when at one point, to be honest with you, uh I was doing a lot of wholesaling. I thought I actually discovered something, man. I didn't realize there was other big wholesale operations that no one can really put together, right? The person who I think put it together for you old school wholesalers is probably a guy named Max Maxwell. Max Maxwell put in a first wholesale event where all the people were actually doing deals went to it. I was like, oh I think that's where I met Carls Reyes. I think Carlos Reyes is doing him and the all-in guys, and you got Donovan doing, I was like, oh, you got Nick Perry. I was like, oh, it's not just us, man. I really thought I thought it was us, man. I thought we're doing some big noise in San Antonio. But I would say San Antonio is one of the mectas for wholesaling. There's Phoenix, Arizona, and then there's San Antonio. And it was been like that for the longest. And you know, we just happened to be the face of San Antonio. Why do you think San Antonio? I think there's a lot of movement. There's a lot of,

Giving an $8K Check to a Teen Employee

SPEAKER_02 56:38

I don't know, man. I don't know why San Antonio happened. I don't know why Phoenix. Phoenix happened, I I want to give credit to Carlos Reyes in Phoenix. I think he and Maxwell and uh all the other guys, a lot of people were from Phoenix. Yeah, that was like Guru Capital is Phoenix.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

Still is.

SPEAKER_02 56:50

Yeah, it still is. Back then when it comes to wholesaling, San Antonio was the second guru capital. You had all the people back then. Well, fortunately, a lot of people fell off. A lot of people fell off, and yeah, and I was actually thinking about this podcast this morning when I knew we were gonna do it. And I was thinking about my journey because I knew we're gonna go back, and I was thinking to myself, man, who's still in wholesaling that's still doing it at a big operation? I talked to Carlos the other day, Carlos Reyes, he's out the game, but he's doing some other stuff with the Latino culture, that's pretty cool. And some of the big wigs, and there's only two people I can really come to mind when it comes to wholesaling at a scale, yeah, that's still doing even my my operation is not as big as it was back then. Yeah, yeah. But I'm still being consistent. And the only two people I can think of is Nick Perry and his boy Brandon, and Donovan and his boy Omar. I would only compare them to me and Frank. Because everyone else kind of stopped.

SPEAKER_00 57:38

Everyone else is either stopped or they're brand new.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Or yeah, or they're brand new. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's um some other guys out there, but I'm talking about when I was doing wholesaling from 10 plus years ago. Those are the only two people I can think of the top of my head. And sorry if I exclude anybody, but that's the only two people I can think of. Yeah, and they both happened to be in Texas uh Texas. Dallas, uh Donovan's in Dallas, and Nick was based out of Austin, but I think he moved to Phoenix. But other than that, I mean, all in kind of fell off. It did their own thing. I'm sure they're still wholesaling, but not as the capacity as it was. Yeah. Yeah. Maxwell fell off, and he's doing some. I think he's a pilot now, or I don't know what he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 58:11

What year did you do your first wholesale deal? What year was that? Roughly.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

15?

unknown 58:17

14.

SPEAKER_00 58:18

15. So from 15 to 20, y'all built a pretty crazy operation. That was the time of, yeah, I think it was a lot of a lot of hard work, effort, the right pieces, right place.

SPEAKER_02 58:26

Like back then, there wasn't even no investor back then.

SPEAKER_00 58:28

Exactly. But also it was the time of like, you think about it, Instagram launched in like 2012, 13, I believe. Really started taking off. And so you rode that wave as well. What were some of the struggles from that first deal to like 2020? Those first five years, what were some of the struggles?

SPEAKER_02 58:43

Talk about some times that y'all well, it's talk about Instagram, man. I remember at Instagram, I didn't want to make an Instagram. Yeah. And uh I was like, Instagram, I was like, ah, that's for kids. Manny, Manny Cash is selling. I mean, you gotta do it, Mike, you gotta do it. Manny's the actual one that made me do an Instagram. Um nowadays, I'd

Content as a Deal Magnet

SPEAKER_02 58:57

much rather do an Instagram. But yeah, uh just understanding where you're at back then. If you had it such a deal, I mean it was sell it in minutes, right? You post a deal on Facebook, it would sell. Nowadays, because uh everything's so saturated, it's just tough. And you got fluffy numbers, right? Wholesalers are fluffing ARVs. Majority of wholesalers who are wholesaling in real estate has never done a flip before. So, how are these wholesalers telling experienced flippers ARV is this and rehab is this when 99% of wholesalers never flipped a house before?

SPEAKER_00 59:26

Not only that, there's wholesalers that are 14-year-old kids in Indonesia or wherever they're at, overseas that are flipped or that are wholesaling houses. And so, yeah, not only have they never done a flip, they don't even been in your country before, understand anything that's crazy. They're doing deals. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

And you know, for my first five years, I noticed when there's this kid, his name is Julian. I just talked to him the other day. He shared one of the things in a podcast. Julian was a kid, man, 15 years old, and I think he was Frank's nephew. He was still in high school. After high school, he'd come to the office, he would co-call, and he would close deals. I remember one point specifically, one of his deals closed, and I text him, hey man, come get your check. That's when we're doing paper checks really back then. It was rough back then. And he would come during his lunch break with his friends and $7,000, $8,000 checks to a 15-year-old kid who's still in high school. That was peak wholesaling in my point. Nowadays it's all systemized. You got so many AIs, you got so many virtual assistants in the Philippines calling. Not to say it's not bad, it's just it wasn't as saturated as it was back then. So for us, I think it was right timing. Somebody else big back then was Raphael Vargas. He was really big in wholesaling. I think he was a really strong catapult. He has such a bad name for some reason. He has a bad history behind him. But when it comes to Raphael and wholesaling, that dude was on point, dude. He was really, really on point and had stuff scientifically proven. So I went to one of his events and I was watching his stuff. Like, we're just kind of fly by seat of our pants. And this guy actually has a system, and that's when it really dawned me. Like, we got to get strategic. And that's when Frank came in and made some big things. But yeah, Propelio was up and running uh at his peak. You know, obviously it's a downfall from now. But Propelio back then had his own podcast. I was doing some stuff with the Propelio TV show that they used to have uh at their event in Dallas or Houston, wherever I was at.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:07

But yeah, whole zone, man. Came a long way. It was, yeah, I mean

Scaling "Subject-To" Financing

SPEAKER_00 1:01:11

like I said, I came into it after the right in the peak of the prime time, and that's how I got to meet, you know, so many people that you I was traveling with you. You were doing a bunch of roadshows and you know, Phoenix and Dallas and Houston and all over the place. We took California, we traveled, and just met so many of the gurus and you know, Carlos and all the guys. Right how I met Ryan, all these people were just traveling with you and speaking on the stage, seeing you speak on the stages and making sure you had all the stuff you needed. Um, so it's really a cool time to come in and meet all those guys. But talk about your, I guess, social media. How did you become the guy you are on social media? Because obviously, you know, you've got a really good following, a prominent following for years and years, loyalists. I mean, even till today, people come up and like, hey, I haven't even you know followed you since five years ago, but now you're back on my feet again, and just you've had a following for a long, long, long time. How did you where did that even come from to start posting online?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:57

So what started with me, man, is like it's all about leads, right? It's all about leads. And back then, like you said, we were speaking on multiple stages, and I kind of stopped doing the whole stage run um because the incident popped up, and we can talk about that if we have time. But one of my thought processes if I stayed consistent on social media, I would get leads. And I would get leads not from sellers, right? We're not telling, hey, look at me, I wholesale, and then a seller's like, oh yeah, let me call this guy because he's gonna buy my house.

First Subject-To: Biker Gang Mortgage

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

I get leads from JV deals. So back then, while I was, and even to today, to be honest with you, content is real important for me because it was a lead strategy, it was a lead uh magnet to get JVs, right? So anyone had a Texas deal. Back then we were wholesaling nationwide headache, but we're wholesaling nationwide, now we just stick to Texas. So I get a lot of deals from Texas, and I would just funnel that back into my social media. And back then we had um a couple of guys, can't remember the first guy, but one of the other guys we had was 2-0 Sheik. Yep, yeah. We had Sheik in the office, and you know, he really helped me spawn and understand, hey, social media is really important. Let's make you more of a brand or an authority. Um, so he kind of handled my social media for the longest time, uh, a couple years to be honest with you. Yeah, handled for a couple years and really understood what works, what didn't work, and I I think at the same time, everything just was right time. As long as you're consistent, yeah. It was consistent, you know, whether it was cheesy or whether it was not cheesy. You know, back then I was driving a Maserati or something. Um, and just using that as and every time it's always the next notch. Yeah. Oh man, I made it. And I just, even to today, like next notch, oh I made it. That notch never just stops, man. And you always hustle until, you know, never you die, you're never gonna for me personally, I'm never gonna stop. And after that, that's where Don came in. Right? Sheik wanted to go do uh bigger, better things, wanted to go open up a media company, and he was actually heartbroken. Should I leave HPHS and go do my own thing? And it's hey, it's time. Everyone's gonna grow at a specific time. Yeah, so Sheik left, and that's where Don came in, and Don's been doing a really good job for the past few years. And the crazy part about Don is not only is he does all the content, because he's around so much. Don't really smart, man. Yeah. When it comes to sub two deals, owner financing, creative financing. Everything I talk to, because he probably watches the most content of anybody because he's editing the videos. He's really, really smart when it comes to doing this. But yeah, Don's Don made it. So wanted to keep pushing the the content.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:12

The one thing that most people don't even realize is like it costs money to run content. It costs money to pay editors, cost money to pay photographers, it costs money to pay the shooters, it costs I mean it costs a lot of money to do that. So you have, I mean, I would say over your 10 years, probably tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into your content. So most people are like, oh, he just got lucky, oh he just had, you know, whatever, whatever going on, good timing, which is all true, but you also put in the time and the money into it to make sure that you, you know, are getting the benefit of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

And it's consistent, man. If you look over the years, the sub twos, and I've been wholesaling flips and sub twos, and I've you know, sub twos is the one I really love the most. Um, and when I first started sub twos, man, I was like, there's no way. But sub twos, if you look at my content for years, it's not just a fly by night type of deal. It's if you go back ten years, it's always a lot of posting. And I think I don't know, sometimes I'm how can I phrase this? Sometimes I think is it too much? Yeah. Sometimes I think to myself, is it too much where it's always in someone's face, like, oh, okay, well, there's that guy who does uh sub twos. But then again, you come along and you say, Hey, we're not looking for those type of guys. I mean, it's on and on in social media. I personally don't think anybody has the answers. I think we always shoot for our best, shoot or shoot, and hope for the best that comes out of content. For me, all I'm doing is post on my journey every single day. Yeah. From a flip to a wholesale to a sub two. And if I can inspire somebody to do uh what they gotta do and maybe join the hustle academy to learn what we're doing in the hustle academy by literally wholesaling flips and sub twos, man, that's that's a win for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:36

I'm gonna ask you another question that I actually don't know the answer to. First sub two, how did that even come about? How did you figure it out? Did you like stumble across it, figure out, oh Danny, this is a thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:45

The first sub two I ever did, man, was like 10, 12 years ago. Um I actually have it today. And funny story the person I sold it to actually called me today. Um, and that's

Creative Problem Solving in Real Estate

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

pretty crazy. Yeah, it's a crazy story. So this lady had this house over there by Southeast San Antonio. Um I don't know, someone referred to us, hey, this lady wants to sell a house. Go meet with a lady, and she says that she wanted, I want to say at the time, $80,000. And I asked her, How'd she come with $80,000? And I've said this before. She owes $75,000 and she just wanted five grand to leave. So I was like, cool, $80,000. I was like, let me go look at the house. She did not want me to go look at the house. Because she had rented it out in her head, she had rented it out to a biker gang. She rented out to some lady. Some lady got mixed up with this dude, and his dude was a biker gang. So the house is full of bikers. House is full of bikers. They're gonna beat you up if you go over there. That's what she kept saying. So I was like, cool, well, I'm not gonna buy for 80 if I can't see it. And I was like, hey, well, are you behind on payments? She wasn't behind on payments. She just didn't want the house. She didn't want to deal with the headache no more. The tenants supposedly weren't paying for her the rent. So she was making a mortgage herself for the last two, three months. At this point, she wanted out. Now, I mentioned a name back then. His name is Pete Fortunato. When I took his course, that dude was like, I mean, I could be wrong. And Pete, if you're watching this somehow, some crazy way. I believe he was like 67 years old at the time. So he was old. So he's older now. Um and he mentioned options, right? Option to buying, doing this and that. And and subtles was coming around nowhere near where it's at today, where you can just take over someone's payments. It's like, well, the loan's in your name, and this is the lady. The lady, the loan's in the lady's name. She's continuing making the payments. Why not just take the deed? As simple as it sounds, back then it was like rocket science. Why not just take the deed and just give it to me and I'll make the payments for you? Paperwork was rough. It was rough back then. I mean, we're Googling. Uh back then, there's no YouTube, there's no schools, there's no sub 2 academy, there's no nothing besides talking to lawyers, going through the motions, and trying the best. Figure it out, yeah. Working with the title company, title companies that's illegal. Uh another person said, Hey, I think I did it with this attorney. Attorneys came involved, and that's kind of how many Allison way, way back then. Um, but yeah, I just went to the motions. I took the deed over. She didn't want no money because she didn't want to deal with the headache. She gave me her logins to her bank, and then when I had the deed, I went to go knock on the door. I said, Hey, my name's Mike. Here's the deed. I'm the new owner. Um, and I'm just here to let you guys know that we need the house back. They were bikers. They let me in or actually be out be cool people. Yeah. Actually, we're cool people. They gave me golf clubs, and they're not bikers. Yeah, they're not bikers. They were just they were just have they were just bikers as a hobby. Yeah. In her head, there were bikers and they're gonna beat her up and all kinds of crazy. It's a misperception. So I offered cash for keys. I offered cash for keys, and that's how I got my first up too. I ended up putting almost like 20 G's into the deal. By the time I did the rehab, the closing costs, the payments, um, and that's when I did my first back then, 20 G's was a lot. Yeah. I need my money back. So I had actually sold the house 20 grand down. Back then, 20 grand down, I got my money back and still cash flows till today, $464 a month.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:44

Dang. Over a decade later.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

Over a decade later, and I still have it. And she called me today because she's gonna uh refinance. Oh wow. Yeah, and that's today. She called me. That's that my very first up two, and here we are in this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:54

So going into that deal.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

And I'm excited because I got about 60 grand equity in that deal.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:58

Oh, nice, it'll be cashed out. There you go. So going into that deal, you got it as a regular lead, I'm assuming, as an agent, I guess, at the time you were still. I work flipping houses, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:08

So someone referred it to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:09

So if I was in the shoes that I am, which is true today, I flip houses, and I didn't haven't met you and I didn't know about wholesale or uh subject to, and somebody would have told me, I wouldn't have thought to just like take over their payments. So it's I know you said you went through a little bit of training. What was your thing going into it? Because for me, I'd be like, that's not a flip, it's not a deal, I don't want it. But for you, what was your thinking going into it? Like, what was the outcome? What was the goal?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:30

I think because you're maybe more on the flipper side. Me back then, I was anything everything. All deals, yeah. Anything and everything. I'm also a realtor. So I would see deals on MLS, house for sale, owner financing. House for sale owner financing. I was like, man, how does that work? Owner financing. Why? And I always thought to myself, why would an owner sell a house in payments? Most people, even today, they want their money, all their money up front. Pay off my loan, give me

Paying Off Mom’s House on Stage

SPEAKER_02 1:09:51

whatever I can. I never hit clicked the owner financing, someone wouldn't take over payments or sell a house on payments. So I actually had a couple clients that bought owner finance because they couldn't uh qualify traditionally. So I got the demotions, and then when I saw this scenario happening, it just like in my head it played out. I'm not gonna buy the house, but I'll take over the payments because there's so much equity. The house, I don't know, maybe it was worth like 130, 140, so like 60 or 70. Yeah. So, like, no matter what, if she just gives it to me, I'm not gonna lose. Because if she gives me a house for free, and when I say free, she was current, she didn't want no money, she just didn't want the headache. Even if I need 20 grand rehab, because 20 grand back then was a lot, right? I'm still gonna win, I'll just give it as a rental. That was my initial thought process. But that was actually my very first house I ever bought that was not uh my personal house as an investment, and I just couldn't stop putting more money into it. I had to look nice and do this and that, and I'm beating 20 grand into it. Yeah, I just wanted my money back.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:46

How did you know that you could even sell it on an owner finance deal since you technically didn't have the loan in your name? How did you even know about that?

SPEAKER_02 1:10:53

Uh I think just being a realtor, man. Remember, I told you I was uh selling houses, owner financing, uh, and I knew once you put the deal in your name, back then I didn't even put in a land trust. That's

Transitioning to Commercial Real Estate

SPEAKER_02 1:11:02

how this is all far back. I want to say I just put in my I did put in my personal LC name, which don't do that now. Hustle Academy will show you how to close sub two deals the right way. But I put in my personal LLC and then I uh and all those do on sale clauses, this is 12 years ago. Yeah, do on sale hasn't happened in 12 years. And uh, there's a video that we did that kind of went viral last couple weeks. Do on that's all I hear is do-on-sell, do on sale. This is the one that's been 12 years, right? 12 years at a decent rate. I want to say it's a 3.25, yeah, because I know it's my first one. It's no do on sale, man. The payments on time because I always made the payments on time. The person was in the house, he was cool about it. She's a hairdresser, gets paid cash, um, especially 10 years ago. A lot of cash tips, cash apples, everything back then. Yeah, yeah. So cash, cash, cash, yeah. Cash rich but not income rich. Went to the motions and that's how it is. And now, and now, once I saw that one, my very first time was like, there's no way someone would say you can take over their payments. And as you realize, again, going back to what I said, you just don't know what you don't know. There are so many people that need a sell but can't sell for whatever reason, job loss, relocation, scared because they rented out to some biker gangs, mom and dad passed away, and uh the kids don't want to deal with the loan. There's so many positions out there. But when we think of traditional real estate, we think of Keller Williams, happy wife, uh, happy husband and wife, two kids, they want to enlist their house because they want to buy the next house. That's not who we're targeting. As an investor, we're we're looking for problems and how we're gonna solve those problems because the more problems you can solve, the more money you're gonna make. Yep. And that's literally what it comes down to real estate investing, solving problems.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:35

Yeah, I mean that's all that's within any kind of business. If you solve their problem, that's I mean, that's why Netflix, your problem is you're bored, you create movies, right? So whatever it is, if you're solving problems, but especially in real estate, because many times it's a big ticket item, you're making a lot of money. So that's that's really cool to see your whole journey. Like I said, I've known a little bit of your story, but I learned a lot today going through that. But let's uh you've done basically everything I think you've probably ever wanted to do. You've been to the military, you served your country, you're a great dad, great husband, you know, the whole nine yards, patriot, real estate investor, guru, influencer, all this stuff, right? What's your number one, I guess, proudest thing that you've done in your career?

SPEAKER_02 1:13:14

It's tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:15

There's a lot. There's a lot to go over.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:16

There's a lot, there's a lot to choose from. I mean, one that's always gonna go back to me, man, is you know, growing up and being in those poor beginnings, not humble beginnings, just straight up

Becoming a Grandfather at 39

SPEAKER_02 1:13:26

poor. Um I think it's every poor kid's dream to pay off their mom's house. Yeah. That was it. Yeah. To see her face light up at my event at the peak, where you were, like you said, you saw me at my peak in my my own event. I think there was 500, 600 people in the audience teaching them how to wholesale, bring my mom up and share with her in front of the entire 500, 600 people that I just paid over a house because of wholesale in real estate. Yeah, that's definitely a highlight of one of my features.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:52

Yeah, that was cool. I remember that uh that day, and then obviously seeing the recast over and over, it's been a little bit of a little bit of a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:57

Yeah, that was instilled in me, man. And I think that's it's uh one that really just etched into my heart.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:02

Yeah. What um what's next for for Mr. Hustle?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

Man, I don't know, man. It's just strategically planning. I love the office because the office is an autopilot, to be honest with you. The wholesaling, the guys are awesome. We're doing so much deals back then, every single day we're always improving. But there's always change, just like everything else. The uh whatever industry you're in is always a change, and we're just standing up at the time. So the wholesaling is a really good operation. I mean, you're you got the fix and flip unlocked. I mean, yeah. I've shared this with you before, man. And when I'm fixing flipping, I was just painting floors go a long way, man. Painting floors go a long way, make it look good. And you know, if I can make 20 grand per flip, I was happy. But the way you came in and strategically locked in flipping, I mean, flipping's locked in now. Yeah, yeah. Sub twos, I've been fortunate enough to do sub twos for 12 years and have hundreds and hundreds in the portfolio. So every month, it's always nice to get all that money from all the cash flows. That money comes in and goes right back into real estate. Um, and I'm okay being a little more risk tolerant. And some months, like, man, it's a pretty rough month because I'm buying so much more real estate, but I know it's gonna pay off when everything catches up. Meaning, like right now, I think I have like 12 vacant houses. Yeah. Right? When those 12 vacant houses, once they're all occupied, that number will uh fluctuate by 20 years. You're still gonna buy more. Yeah, I'm still gonna buy more. I don't know, you can't

Launching The Hustle Academy

SPEAKER_02 1:15:19

stop. Uh for me, man. You know, I've done a lot. I've been in real estate for 12 years. You know, I try to explore different things, right? Hence the restaurant we did because I got bored. But when I got bored, I realized stick to where you're good at, which is real estate. Um, and sticking to what I've I love doing real estate. It's not a job for me. And to be cliche, as those people say, you know, it's it's not a job. I just love doing real estate. What's the next deal I can do? Um giving back to people, right? Giving back to Frank and Cecilia, they have a house. My parents' house paid off, my sister's on a third house, our brother's on his fourth and fifth house. Uh, to see them achieving their dreams, that's actually more beneficial to me than another house in my portfolio. So that's pretty cool to see. But I don't know, I think I don't know, maybe commercial. I've been dabbling in kind of the idea of commercial. Um, you know, I I can take 12 sub twos or I can do one commercial building, probably exp exploring commercial, kind of see where that's at. All the people I talk to who are next level, I would say it's always been commercial, and that's just something I've never done. I have wholesale commercial, I've wholesale commercial buildings, I've wholesale department complexes, but I've never actually bought commercial.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:27

The crazy thing with you is you have lived like a ton of lives. Influencer, real estate investor, realtor, army guy, all this stuff. Super young. And you have a new chapter coming up in your life. You're about to be Grandpa Hustle.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:42

Grandpa Hustle, yeah. Yeah, bless. I thought you were bringing this up in the podcast. But we're recording this when this podcast airs. My birthday is actually this weekend. Uh-huh. And it's a big one. It's a big chapter. And my oldest, she is 22. She followed my footsteps. Not real estate. She joined the military, so she's in the army. Um, but she's actually down in San Antonio because she's about to have her baby, which is my first grandson, um, here in the next less than two weeks. So life's about to change fast.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:11

I think you're gonna hopefully we'll I'm sure you're gonna be spending a lot of time away from the office doing that, and then maybe we'll get you turned into a uh a Disney grandpa taken.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:21

Yeah, taking some grandkids of Disney. And, you know, I spent a lot of time in, I spent a lot of time hustling. Yeah. A lot of time hustling. Frank's the biggest advocate of how much hustle I spent. My wife will probably be the second biggest advocate in how much hustle I spent. So, you know, this my brother coming this weekend, it's a big number. Um, probably time to enjoy the fruits of the labor, man. Even though I just can't stop. I mean, I just can't stop.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:44

We're we're that's where we're like. We are as soon as we get our mind on something and you see a little success in it, like it's so I I see I feel where you're coming from. I know a lot of people don't have that same drive, the same motivation. They they want to clock out at five o'clock and go, you know, go to the bar or go whatever.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:58

Go to the bar, they're gonna hang out. Let's be clear, I do not need to work anymore. Yeah. Years ago. Yeah. I do not need to work tomorrow. My lifestyle can be supported by the house I have, but it's just a game to me, man. It's just it's a drive. Like, I want to put more houses. I want to say last year last month, I don't know, five or six houses, I think. Yeah. That's like every month. Every month. And I just can't stop, man. I don't know. I need to chill out.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:20

No, I'm excited to see, you know, obviously what we continue to do. Um, you know, I'm very young in this. I'm barely October, my two year anniversary. So I mean, I'm super, super fresh in it. I'm excited and you know, to see what we can put do together and and where the industry is gonna go. I don't know, there's all kinds of stuff, you know, talking about 3D homes and modular homes. So we'll see what

Rapid Fire & Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 1:18:38

see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:38

One of the things you said that what's next for me, besides commercial, man. I love to see other people succeed. Yeah. And there's no value in that, man. You know, a wholesale dealer that makes you 20 grand, that's cool. It's just it's just another day in the office if that makes sense. Once you get to be fortunate enough to do so. Buy two, three houses a month, another day in the office. It doesn't excite me anymore. What excites me is seeing other people succeed, seeing other people do their first flip, see other people get into first sub two, and it's like, oh Mike, you're right, it's not that hard going through the motions. And I've gotten away from this, Skylar, and you actually brought the fire back in me is mentorship and students. Right back then I was really hyped up on mentorships, somewhat I just I had more hustle than I really had to drive for mentorship. If they can tag along and do what they gotta do, cool. I just wanted to keep hustling, hustling, and my ex-partner Charles was taking the lead on students. Now that time has gone by and I'm in a blessed position to be in in life, the hustle academy is really important to me, man. And in the hustle academy, you're taking the lead on with the flip side. I'm taking the lead on on the sub two and the wholesale side with Frank. To see people in the Hustle Academy get their very first deal and make $10,000, $20,000 on a wholesale deal, or make $20,000, $30,000 on a flip, or to get their first house under contract and we're gonna sell it to them on a wrap and they're gonna start making $800 to $1,000 a month cash flow. Going for those guys, going from start to finish, that's really cool to see. Yeah. And the Hustle Academy was built um by straight experience putting it on paper, but you're the missing factor, man. You're really the missing factor on helping me understand take what I've learned in the last 12 years and share with those guys strategically. Right. The only way I was doing it was by pushing content. And I really want to work with people in the hustle academy who want to hustle, who want to learn ideally flips and sub twos and understanding how flips is so easy because the way you pitch it and the way you strategically categorize every single chapter from start to finish is so super simple. I wish I had that when I did my first flip, buying house's cash with line of credits to understand how the private money works to the sub two side and seeing how the students now in the sub two in the hustle academy, how they're now buying their first deal simply by following the guidelines in Hustle Academy's also one of those next big chapters for me. How fast, how big can we grow Hustle Academy? How can we make it a big ecosystem on everyone working with everyone truly simple by one word of hustle?

unknown 1:21:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:16

Well, well said, and I definitely think that I think we should do this again, like around the new year, because I can talk to you for another probably two hours. Um, but we don't want to keep the audience too long and bore them out. But I definitely think we should maybe quarterly check-ins would be cool to do this because I mean I know people were very curious about you, who you are. I genuinely obviously I know you've known you for years. We're you know done travel together, best friends, and all this stuff. But I've learned a lot about you today, so I really enjoyed this episode. And uh I'm gonna ask you the question that everybody gets asked. I'm gonna judge you based off one thing. What is Mr. Hustle's favorite movie?

SPEAKER_02 1:21:48

Oh man, so it's tough to put the word favorite movie. I am a movie buff. I love movies. And uh, you know, from the Chicano movies to Blood and Blood Out to the comedy movies, I'm always gonna go to Back to the Future, man. That's okay. The reason I say back to the future is one, it's nostalgic. Two, I like the back and forth, man. How there's so many Easter eggs in Back to the Future, and the more you watch it, the more you'll find more Easter eggs. And how he had to go to the past and then back to the futures of just the whole concept of a movie in general, sitting there watching a movie and understanding you just zone out, man. You check out for a little bit, and you know, when it comes to movies and storytelling, a person normally checks out and tunes into a story. Yeah, that's how it is for movies, man, and you know, Back to the Future. I uh I hope they make a new one, to be honest with you. Promise I will have to go watch that movie. Never seen it? No. I I'm not I'm not one of the guys, man. They say don't make don't remake a movie. They say don't remake Back to the Future. They say don't remake uh La Bamba, supposedly the remake of La Bamba. But all those classic movies, I'm down for it, man. Remake it again.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:49

Let's see what all the movies now are trash. You got a bunch of trash movies out. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. The guy's like never seen. I know. And the final question, the one that everybody gets asked, turn up the hustle is obviously not my way of life, but it is all it is now. But it is your slogan, you started, we heard how it came about. What does, after all these years, all these deals, all these people you've influenced, what does turn up the hustle actually mean to you?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:15

Turn up the hustle to me is no matter what you're doing. I said earlier in the podcast, no matter what you're doing, whether you're cutting grass, whether you're flipping bricks, whether you're flipping burgers, you're flipping houses, whether you're in the army, whether you're in the military, whatever the case may be, strive to become a better person. Trump the hustle is a general platform for all industries, no matter what industry you're in. Do your best, be your best. The army, that's what it took me to start off with is be the best you can be. Do that, be happy with yourself. The more you hustle, the better your life will be.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:45

There it is. Nobody can say it any better because this is the man who actually owns the copyright for turn up the hustle for the trademark. So this was super super fun. I really think we should do this again soon. Uh, definitely there's a lot more knowledge in there to extract a lot more info that the people want to uh to know about you. So make sure that you comment on this episode. If there's something you don't know about Mike and it was not covered in this episode today, make sure you comment it, we'll do it again. And as always, as always, this was another fantastic episode of the Turn Up the Hustle podcast. We bring this to you each and every week to make sure that you are getting value and learning how to turn up that hustle. And if you have not yet joined Hustle Academy, you already know where to find Mike. Turn up the hustle on all platforms, he is everywhere. And if you found value out of this, make sure you share this episode with somebody, somebody who needs to know about this guy and how you two can do the same thing that he's doing. And help us out if you're liking this podcast. Make sure you like, subscribe, comment, do all the things, share it around. And as always, is always turn up the hustle. We will see you guys all in the next one. Peace.